Case Story
Breaking new ground:
How Curriculum Co. turned risk
into repeatable success
Client Mandate
Define, design, and write the curriculum for the company’s first product beyond its core markets.
Our Starting Point
-
- No experience in Middle School or Algebra content
- No frameworks for greenfield development
- Low organizational confidence in navigating ambiguity
- Leadership concerned about delays and overruns
Our Success
- On-time delivery with zero major issues
- Systematic 5-phase methodology informed company-wide redesigned process
- Team members and leadership confident in their ability to navigate uncertainty
- Toolkit adopted across future curriculum efforts
Our Starting Point
Curriculum Co had built its reputation in K–5 education, refining and updating existing content with tested processes and predictable outcomes. But when the company set its sights on the Middle School market with a new Algebra product, everything changed.
This was uncharted territory. The team had no existing product to reference that reflected their unique approach to instruction, no prior experience navigating the complex and contradictory sets of Algebra standards, and no framework for new product development. The ambiguity was high. So were the stakes.
Leaders worried the team would struggle to deliver on time and on budget. There were concerns about rework, costly missteps, and the need for constant executive intervention. The challenge wasn’t just launching a new product—it was proving that Curriculum Co could succeed beyond the boundaries of its core business.
Our Journey
MileZero embedded as a player-coach—working alongside the team to deliver the Algebra product while building their capacity to manage uncertainty and complexity.
Together, we:
- Structured the unknown. We developed a five-phase development framework—Plan, Imagine, Align, Swarm, Iterate & Test—to guide the team from ambiguity to action.
- Replaced silos with swarms. Instead of traditional working groups, the team moved as one—focusing on a single shared priority at a time to accelerate decision-making and strengthen collaboration.
- Aligned around a simple and singular definition of success and a set of team norms. The mission and set of norms were reviewed at the start of all key meetings, and one norm was selected for specific discussion and experience sharing throughout each Swarm
- Codified adaptive learning. We implemented systems to capture lessons learned and make course corrections early, so the team could continuously improve as they moved forward.
- Established communication and decision making rhythms. With structured meetings, clear success criteria, and stakeholder check-ins, the team stayed aligned without requiring excessive oversight.
Our Progress
What started as Curriculum Co’s riskiest project became its most transformative.
The Algebra product was delivered on time with zero major issues, despite the team’s inexperience with both the content area and new product development. But the real breakthrough was how the team worked—and what that made possible.
By introducing structure to the ambiguity, the team stopped spinning and started building. They didn’t just deliver a product—they developed the capability to deliver anything new.
What was once a high-risk, first-of-its-kind initiative became the blueprint for how Curriculum Co tackles all of its product development and improvement work. The framework and tools developed during this project are now being used across the organization to support faster, more confident execution in unfamiliar territory.
Today, Curriculum Co no longer treats uncertainty as an exception. They treat it as a skill set. And they’ve proven that with the right tools and team, even the most unfamiliar challenge can become their strongest success story.
Client Mandate
Define, design, and write the curriculum for the company’s first product beyond its core markets.
Our Starting Point
- No experience in Middle School or Algebra content
- No frameworks for greenfield development
- Low organizational confidence in navigating ambiguity
- Leadership concerned about delays and overruns
Our Success
- On-time delivery with zero major issues
- Systematic 5-phase methodology informed company-wide redesigned process
- Team members and leadership confident in their ability to navigate uncertainty
- Toolkit adopted across future curriculum efforts
Our Starting Point
Curriculum Co had built its reputation in K–5 education, refining and updating existing content with tested processes and predictable outcomes. But when the company set its sights on the Middle School market with a new Algebra product, everything changed.
This was uncharted territory. The team had no existing product to reference that reflected their unique approach to instruction, no prior experience navigating the complex and contradictory sets of Algebra standards, and no framework for new product development. The ambiguity was high. So were the stakes.
Leaders worried the team would struggle to deliver on time and on budget. There were concerns about rework, costly missteps, and the need for constant executive intervention. The challenge wasn’t just launching a new product—it was proving that Curriculum Co could succeed beyond the boundaries of its core business.
Our Journey
MileZero embedded as a player-coach—working alongside the team to deliver the Algebra product while building their capacity to manage uncertainty and complexity.
Together, we:
- Structured the unknown. We developed a five-phase development framework—Plan, Imagine, Align, Swarm, Iterate & Test—to guide the team from ambiguity to action.
- Replaced silos with swarms. Instead of traditional working groups, the team moved as one—focusing on a single shared priority at a time to accelerate decision-making and strengthen collaboration.
- Aligned around a simple and singular definition of success and a set of team norms. The mission and set of norms were reviewed at the start of all key meetings, and one norm was selected for specific discussion and experience sharing throughout each Swarm
- Codified adaptive learning. We implemented systems to capture lessons learned and make course corrections early, so the team could continuously improve as they moved forward.
- Established communication and decision making rhythms. With structured meetings, clear success criteria, and stakeholder check-ins, the team stayed aligned without requiring excessive oversight.
Our Progress
What started as Curriculum Co’s riskiest project became its most transformative.
The Algebra product was delivered on time with zero major issues, despite the team’s inexperience with both the content area and new product development. But the real breakthrough was how the team worked—and what that made possible.
By introducing structure to the ambiguity, the team stopped spinning and started building. They didn’t just deliver a product—they developed the capability to deliver anything new.
What was once a high-risk, first-of-its-kind initiative became the blueprint for how Curriculum Co tackles all of its product development and improvement work. The framework and tools developed during this project are now being used across the organization to support faster, more confident execution in unfamiliar territory.
Today, Curriculum Co no longer treats uncertainty as an exception. They treat it as a skill set. And they’ve proven that with the right tools and team, even the most unfamiliar challenge can become their strongest success story.